I'm back!

Sorry, took a very extended break. However I'm back. God wasn't Tesco a shock! This has to be the best thing ever though:

Apparently I'm related to her. What goes around comes around.

Spot the difference

Deptford is the plaice to shop

I shall admit something terrible. On Saturday morning I arose (fairly early for me in fact) and one of my first thoughts was, "right, better get down to Lewisham to buy the ingredients for tonight's dinner."



I voiced these thoughts out loud and was well and truly chastised. "Why Lewisham?!" It was exclaimed. "What can you buy there that you can't buy here?" Did I or did I not list all the reasons one should shop in Deptford in a previous post? Yet my first instinct was to jump ship to Lewisham. Was it the lure of the metal scoops/bowls of £1 veg? Boots? All those boutiques full to the brim with sartorial delights? Or even Argos? Why feel the need to venture further into zone 2 (almost 3)? Maybe the childhood memories of the rotating mechanical people above the lifts to the car park, I still remember the tune. Or climbing onto the camel's back in the play area (the sat down one of course, the other was for the athletic children, or the stupidly brave). Lewisham has more shops, the market is great for fruit and veg, the Italian Deli has too many varieties of linguine to mention and there's a TK Maxx. Reasons to travel surely. I sat down. I pondered. My mobile phone was expertly plucked from my mac pocket a few months ago in Lewisham, was I really ready to go back there? After promoting the virtues of Deptford High Street to anyone that cared to read why was I not about to practice what I preached? "I shall leave my Oyster Card at home" I declared and with dramatic lunge into my large reusable and recycled bag (so as to be ecologically friendly and all that) I brandished it and threw it rather accurately onto the coffee table. "Anything Lewisham does, Deptford can do better." I declared and threw open the front door. Admittedly I was going to look at DVDs in Lewisham but decided I'd put that off and buy some on Amazon later. Deptford did not disappoint.



I had concerns that there would be certain things one could only purchase from a large supermarket, however the diverse products in Housewives Cash and Carry meant that I had a choice of two different sizes of bags of bay leaves. I went to Cod father's and bought two cod fillets, a fillet of smoked haddock and a handful of prawns. "We're a real shop love." Said the fishmonger while handing me a free bag of cooked mussels. Surely that would never have happened in Lewisham. When the grocer had no parsley I was directed to a shop that was likely to have it, and a huge bunch for 65p. Deptford High Street is what food shopping is all about. It was fun, productive and interesting. The only thing that would have made it better would have been passing Kennedy's and buying some chipolatas just because I could.

I'm not saying Deptford is better than Lewisham, they are obviously completely different but I really enjoyed searching for products and feeling part of my community and I felt strangely rewarded for it too. Oh and I didn't have to use my oyster card.

Mind the Crap

"Doubts were raised today over London's ability to host the 2012 Olympics after thousands of visitors were stranded on their way to Docklands. Tourism minister Barbara Follett apologised to delegates at the World Travel Market at ExCel after the DLR broke down and there were problems on the tube. Ertugrul Gunay, Turkey's tourism minister said: "Traffic will pose a problem [in 2012].""

London Lite 12/11/2008

I'll tell you what Ertugrul, it's a bloody problem RIGHT NOW. I hadn't realised I was on the same DLR as all these incredibly important people. Babs I'm still waiting, I may not be a tourist but an apology would be nice. I doubt the delegates would have had to endure the walk from Mudchute to Deptford yesterday and with bags of food shopping. But maybe they were on a different DLR? Fancy that. After a women pulled the emergency cord this morning, I don't think I have ever felt so eager to ensure that said passenger was near death's sliding doors. I am not evil, the DLR has done this to me.

Nights to remember or not

I have just been on holiday. It was great, there was sun but I have to admit I really missed my London nightlife. The greatest thing about London is that you can have a really familiar night out; go to your local pub, little known bar or club, maybe a house party and never be more than a bus route away from your abode OR you can go crazy and cross the river and live it up like a tourist (or maybe meet friends that live in North London). The fact is, in London we can night life it any way we want to. I do admit to loving a local night out and I have so so so loved what was Bubble Gum. That door, just to the west of what was The Live Bar. The fizzy pop! Well now it is the Bunker Club and I have had my fair share of fun there too. Last week a load of my friends went to Death in Deptford (anything to do with Marlowe?) I was abroad but this Friday (the 7th) there is what sounds like a really fun night. Check it out here. The music looks great. They do this twitter thing too but I don't really understand it. Anyway if you do happen to fall through the doors of what was Bubble Gum please let me know if your ice came from an easily decapitated plastic snowman.

Deptford X Golden Ball in Creek Mystery

I know this is a very bad photo but I took it with my phone in night mode. I have seen this Golden Ball in many places but never in the place I believe it was meant to be installed. Although maybe the whole point is that it is a moving installation?

I saw it just over a week ago being carried along Creekside and then tonight floating on the Creek, but I managed to miss it like this:



I nicked this photo from Transpontine - thanks! I'm quite enjoying this spotting of the Golden Ball. I feel like it is making funny little cameo appearances in my life. Have you seen it anywhere else? I wonder where I'll see it next...

It mouse be love

As anyone that has read any previous posts would know, I do love Deptford. I love it for all sorts of reasons; the artyness (though it can get a bit much), the diversity, the south east London-ness of the place, the shops, the proximity to Greenwich, the ease of getting out of it (I know, but it is handy!) and many more reasons that I haven't listed. There is however one more reason for my loving of this part of London that I only discovered yesterday and that is its mice. Of course I don't mean real mice. I mean the fictional ones that my friend just told me about, ones that exist in a trilogy of novels by Robin Jarvis. I have never read this trilogy, but my friend intends to lend it to me. I can't wait.

"In the sewers of Deptford there lurks a dark presence which fills the tunnels with fear: The rats worship it in the blackness and name it Jupiter, Lord of All."

A rat jumped through the window of my neighbours flat a couple of months ago, well so he says anyway. Surely that is a case for the Deptford Mice. Having read a bit about these novels I was relieved to find out from the author's website that it really is this Deptford they are based around .

"I always try to find out all I can about the subject matter in each new story and during this early stage all sorts of new ideas can suggest themselves. With The Deptford Mice trilogy, I incorporated some of the local history of Greenwich and Blackheath."

I never knew I could have such a fondness for the little creatures.